Sarabjit’s family returns to India

LAHORE - Dalbir Kaur, sister of Indian prisoner Sarbajit Singh, slammed the Indian government for allegedly failing to take her brother back to India."I am very disappointed with the government because it could not take firm steps to help him," she said after she crossed into India from Wagha border along with Sarabjit’s wife and daughters on Wednesday.The family of Sarbajit returned to India as the condition of the Indian prisoner remained highly critical amid reports that he was brain dead.Sarabjit was attacked by two death row prisoners, who apparently wanted to take revenge from the Indian prisoner of carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan.Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur told newsmen at Wagah border that she was returning to India to take care of Sarabjit's children. She demanded that Pakistan should hold an inquiry into the attack. She added that Pakistan should hold an inquiry to find out how Sarabjit's security was compromised and he was subsequently attacked with bricks and iron rods."If the attack was planned by the government, there is no need for an inquiry. But if Sarabjit was attacked without the knowledge of the authorities, an inquiry is definitely needed."Sarabjit's lawyer Awais Sheikh said that he would file a fresh petition in the Lahore High Court, seeking its permission to allow the Indian doctors to be part of the medical board which is treating Sarbjit Singh. Sarabjit is in coma and doctors are not hopeful about his survival.Sarabjit had been on death row since 1990, when he was convicted for involvement in a string of bomb attacks that killed 14 people. But his family says he is innocent and that he had inadvertently strayed across the border when drunk.Monitoring Desk adds: According to Zee TV, the Indian government on Wednesday appealed to the Pakistani authorities to release death-row prisoner Sarabjit Singh immediately and send him to a third country for treatment if they are unwilling to send him to India. Earlier in the day, the distraught family of Sarabjit asked the government to ensure better treatment and pressed for his return to India.Sarabjit was declared ‘clinically dead’ by Pakistani doctors on Wednesday. "We are concerned at the condition of Shri Sarabjit Singh indicated by reports made available by doctors treating him at Jinnah Hospital," said a statement issued by the Indian External Affairs Ministry. "Our High Commissioner has met the Pakistan Foreign Secretary and urged the Government of Pakistan to immediately release Sarabjit Singh on humanitarian and sympathetic grounds so that he can benefit from the best available treatment in India," it said. "Alternatively we have also proposed that Sarabjit Singh should be sent to a third country for proper medical treatment," the statement added."This is not the time for invoking legal and bureaucratic reasons for not taking the right steps to save a human life. We believe that every endeavour should be made to save his life," the statement said.